Eight FTSE 100 stocks break records as index hits new high
Blue-chips have continued this year where they left off in 2025, reaching fresh peaks while Wall Street struggles. City writer Graeme Evans names the shares driving the rally.
25th February 2026 13:21
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
A 40% bounce since April’s Liberation Day turmoil has included record highs for Shell (LSE:SHEL), HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA) and AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) as the FTSE 100 index today set another milestone.
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The intraday peak of 10,788.69 means the UK’s blue-chip index has risen by 8.5% this year, having only broken the 10,000 threshold for the first time on 2 January.
Among the major global indices, the performance is only bettered by a 13.9% jump for Japan’s Nikkei 225 after Sanae Takaichi's landslide election victory boosted fiscal stimulus hopes.
It also compares favourably with the drift of Wall Street benchmarks, including the Nasdaq and S&P 500 as pressure on the software industry has kept them just below record highs.
Exchanges in Paris and Frankfurt are up by 5% and 2% respectively in 2026, while the Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite have added about 4% since the start of January.
| Index | Price | Change in 2026 (%) | Change 1 month (%) | Change 1 year (%) | Change since 9 April 2025 (%) | |
| 1 | Nikkei 225 | 57,321 | 13.9 | 6.5 | 49.9 | 80.7 |
| 2 | FTSE 100 | 10,768 | 8.5 | 6.2 | 24.2 | 40.2 |
| 3 | FTSE All-Share | 5,781 | 8.1 | 5.6 | 23.2 | 39.3 |
| 4 | FTSE AIM All-Share | 815 | 6.5 | -0.9 | 15.2 | 30.0 |
| 5 | Swiss Market Index | 13,997 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 28.6 |
| 6 | FTSE 250 | 23,665 | 5.3 | 1.5 | 15.7 | 32.3 |
| 7 | CAC 40 (Paris) | 8,542 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 6.1 | 24.5 |
| 8 | Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 26,766 | 4.4 | 0.1 | 16.2 | 32.1 |
| 9 | SSE Composite (China) | 4,117 | 3.7 | -0.5 | 23.1 | 29.2 |
| 10 | Dow Jones | 49,175 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 12.7 | 21.1 |
| 11 | DAX Xetra (Germany) | 25,027 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 11.7 | 27.2 |
| 12 | S&P 500 | 6,890 | 0.7 | -0.4 | 15.7 | 26.3 |
| 13 | NASDAQ Composite | 22,864 | -1.6 | -2.7 | 20.2 | 33.5 |
Source: ShareScope
At a time of heightened fears about AI disruption, the FTSE 100’s market-leading performance owes much to the enduring appeal of the old economy stocks that dominated corporate Britain in the years running up to the invention of the internet.
Several of the originals from the benchmark’s formation in 1984 have seen strong demand from investors this year, including Rio Tinto Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO), BAE Systems (LSE:BA.) and GSK (LSE:GSK) after share price growth of 20% or more.
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A fifth of the index has set an all-time high in the past week, with Unilever (LSE:ULVR) and Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) among them. They also include National Grid (LSE:NG.), SSE (LSE:SSE) and Severn Trent (LSE:SVT) among the utilities.
HSBC and Shell set new peaks in today’s session, alongside Weir Group (LSE:WEIR), Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO), Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (LSE:CCEP), Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV), Halma (LSE:HLMA) and Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT).
| Company | Price | Change in 2026 (%) | Change 1 month (%) | Change 1 year (%) | Change since 9 April 2025 (%) | Forward dividend yield | Forward PE |
| Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO) | 4368p | 33.2 | 21.9 | 152.0 | 215.0 | 1.0 | 43.8 |
| Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (LSE:CCEP) | 7965p | 16.3 | 21.6 | 14.4 | 24.5 | 2.5 | 20.4 |
| Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV) | 5075p | 31.1 | 16.2 | 213.0 | 185.0 | 2.0 | 20.2 |
| Halma (LSE:HLMA) | 4094p | 15.7 | 12.5 | 45.1 | 71.9 | 0.6 | 36.1 |
| HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA) | 1356.6p | 15.6 | 10.2 | 50.8 | 90.2 | 4.1 | 11.6 |
| Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) | 520.5p | 12.2 | 5.9 | 54.9 | 99.0 | ||
| Shell (LSE:SHEL) | 3005.25p | 9.7 | 11.8 | 14.3 | 31.1 | 3.7 | 12.8 |
| Weir Group (LSE:WEIR) | 3550p | 24.7 | 11.7 | 57.1 | 77.0 | 1.2 | 28.2 |
Source: ShareScope
Fidelity International recently calculated that £100 invested in the 30 originals of the FTSE 100 index would be worth £1,600 today compared with little over £1,000 for the wider benchmark.
With the exception of BT Group (LSE:BT.A), it pointed out that none of the 30 were obvious internet plays and yet all had “prospered because of it”.
In an article published in the Telegraph last week, Fidelity added: “So maybe the best way to think about navigating the AI revolution is to bide your time, wait for the first boom and bust to run its course and then seek out the survivors.
“The companies that will still be here in 40 years’ time will be a lot clearer then.”
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The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 index so far in 2026 have been the takeover targets Beazley (LSE:BEZ) and Schroders (LSE:SDR), followed by gains of between 27% and 33% for the mining quartet of Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining, Glencore (LSE:GLEN) and Fresnillo (LSE:FRES).
More than 40 stocks have registered gains of 10% and above, including Diageo (LSE:DGE) despite today’s disappointment over a big cut in its interim dividend to 20 US cents a share. The list also includes BT Group, Centrica (LSE:CNA) and Tesco (LSE:TSCO) after gains of between 13% and 15%.
One of those most affected by the AI noise has been RELX (LSE:REL), which until last year was one of the best performing of the FTSE 100 originals alongside Rio Tinto and British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS).
The shares have fallen by more than a fifth so far in 2026, alongside Experian (LSE:EXPN), Sage Group (The) (LSE:SGE) and Entain (LSE:ENT), after Anthropic launched an AI-driven legal tech services tool.
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The disruption fears eased in today’s session as Anthropic last night signalled its willingness to collaborate with specialist providers, including through a product launch on Relx’s Lexis+.
The shares rallied to 2,387p, which compares with Bank of America’s target of 3,700p and the recent low of 2,013p. The bank said today: “Current multiples continue to imply a high probability of AI disruption.
“Yet the next likely move for growth is up, not down, supported by recently improved guidance in the Science, Technical and Medical division.
“And having announced a better-than-expected £2.25 billion buyback at recent 2025 results, Relx will return nearly 10% of market cap this year and nearly a third in the next three. Yesterday's news could drive further re-rating.”
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